Putting a Face to Names on Vietnam Wall

WASHINGTON, D.C. - A new campaign is underway to put a face to the names of the 58,621 men and women who died during the Vietnam War.

On Thursday, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund launched a campaign to collect the photos of every person listed on the wall. Each name on the wall comes with a story, but until now their pictures were missing.

Lt. Colonel Anthony Shine's name is found on panel one west, row 58 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial but for his daughter Colleen Shine, who was six when he left for his last tour in Vietnam, he was much more.

"Not a day goes by that I don't think of him," Shine said.

She now lives in Arlington, Virginia and brought her father's picture to the Newseum to kick off the National Call for Photos.

"It reminds people that these are real men who are missed and loved and remembered not just tragic statistics of a war gone by," Shine said.

It's been nearly 30 years since the wall was built. Jan Scruggs, one of the founders, said, "The purpose of this is to collect photographs from throughout the United States of each person who gave his or her life during the Vietnam War."

He admits it's an ambitious plan, but says they are working at the grassroots level. One person at the kickoff had already collected 200 photos.

The photos will be part of a virtual wall at the Education Center for The Wall. The $85-million underground center is to be built on the National Mall, between the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and the Lincoln Memorial.

So far, the group has raised about $25 million with help from donors big and small. Shannon Kievit and McKenzie Mathewson, two students from Lewiston, Michigan, raised more than $1,400 in donations and pledges for the new center. They also came with a photo of their hometown hero, Cpl. Michael Pynnonen-- a trip they say was too painful for his family.

"Every name is just a word, but when you put a picture with a name, you can research that picture, and the name together and you can find so many stories," Mathewson said.

She called it an honor to get to know Pynnonen's family and to share his photo for the project.

FedEx is opening up its 1,600 office stores across the country to scan photos for the project.

"Together those 58,621 photos will serve as a lasting reminder of the personal cost and the priceless value of our freedom," said Brian Philips, FedEx Office President.

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund hopes to break ground on The Education Center in 2011. When it's all done, the photos of each person on the wall will be shown on their birthday.

Michael Gormalley, a Vietnam veteran from Kansas City, just met Cpl. Larry Kilgore's family Saturday and hand-carried Kilgore's pictures to D.C.

"He was only 20 years old when he passed away when he was killed in Vietnam. He was a typical high school student," Gormalley learned.

Each photo creates a lasting memory of a war long over, but not forgotten. Colleen Shine still remembers the day her father left. In the photo, he's holding a helmet. A villager later returned the helmet to her when they found his remains in Vietnam.

To submit a picture of someone you know on The Wall, you can follow this link to find out more.